Arta is SWEET!!

[ch83575]

Ok... this is kind of a dumb post, but I have to show sombody how sweet the Arta program is and my wife doesnt seem to care (go figure )! So, it is pretty sweet. I have been using soundeasy for about a year now, and I have had a hard time figuring some things out. The documentation sucks (sorry people who might have worked on it, but it does) and it has some aspects that are not very intuitive at all. Arta is different. Of course it is only a measurement suite, but if you want to measure, it is SO much easier to use. And WAY faster. Processes that took minutes are instantanius. Distortion measurements are very cool. I can get them to correlate very well with soundeasy too, but the presentation of arta is much better. IT HAS A % DISTORTION GRAPH!!! Isnt that cool?

Here is the soundeasy graph of my H1212 near-field:


Here is the graph from arta (steps actually):


Look pretty close ehh? They were taken at as close to the same level as I could get with the soundcard meeters (I need a SPL meeter). Now for the kicker:

Here is the same info displayed as % of total!!:


I just cant get enough. Just for kicks here is an Usher 9930, driven at the same level from the amp, so not at the same output (which might give it a slight advantage since it is significantly less efficent):


Lots more upper order harmonics! Oh well, I still like it. Anyways, this is just Steps, the Arta program is just as cool! But I am out of time. So... everybody who doesn't already have it go the the website and download the demo version, then when you see how cool it is BUY it. That way they can make enough money to make the software even sweeter!!

-Chad

[TurboFC3S]

I agree, ARTA is a great tool ... and MUCH easier to use than Speaker Workshop or Soundeasy. At least, I found it much easier to use.

I've been using the Demo, but will likely purchase the real version just to show my support.

[ch83575]

I just noticed, the upper order products are below .01% on both tweeters (probably not audible), but the 9930 has 2nd and 3rd products that are 1/2 to 1/3 the level of the H1212! Maybe that is why I like it. Well, the post was about arta, not the tweeters, I did not make sure the tests actually meant anything. That is for this weekend!

-Chad

[freddi]

--don't remember this feature in the first demo version - looks very nice !

would someone using ARTA have distortion data on fullrange drivers?

how does ARTA do on group-delay and phase?

[owdi]

Chad - any chance you can measure the amplifier output voltage when you are performing that test? Those distortion numbers are much higher than what I thought the Seas H1212 would produce, and I'd like to try and reproduce your results.

Dan

[MarkMcK]

There already was a very nice Arta thread going. You might check it out.

Arta

I think it is great that so many applications are now available. I do not believe any of them qualify as universally intuitive. With so many different user interfaces, however, there is a chance of finding one that will work with the way you think.

I own SE. I do not like SE particularly and I do not use it, but I found no real problems getting it to work. I needed 20 minutes to install the package and complete the first IR and fft series. That was twice as long as it should have taken since I began by trying to read the manual.

[owdi]

Measured my Seas 27tbfc/g today using Arta.



This was at .7 volts, mounted in a 5" x 16" baffle, with a crossover. Mic was about 15cm from the tweeter. SPL at mic was 95db, which put the 4th and 5th harmonics below the noise floor of my measurement setup. I want to repeat the test at 2.45 volts, which would be 1 watt with this tweeter.

I really like using Arta, and will eventually buy the full version. First I need to get out of my apartment and into a house, with a proper room for doing audio tests.

Dan

[ch83575]

For those that commented on the high harmonic distortions for the H1212 in the previous posts, that was probably for the exact reasons being discussed in the thread about the beringer mic for measureing distortion. I am using a diy panasonic capsul without the Linkwitz mod, and those measurements were at 1w at nearfield distances... so I would imagine at least 1% distortion from the mic. Those were just tests of arta, not the drivers.

So, here are some more tests or arta:




These are SO cool. They are great for realizing in 3d what the baffle difraction looks like as you go off axis! I cant wait untill I have time to measure some speaker systems!

On a less optimistic note: SoundEasy sould get some props for having MUCH better post-processing. I can not get things to add in arta, it only seems to have power-averaging, not adding (well, you can add impulse responces, but not spl graphs). Also, I have found no way to get things you are working on as spl graphs (say an FR averaged acrost a listening window) to turn back into an impulse responce to be saved or manipulated. There are other things that it seems like you SHOULD be able to do in arta that do not seem to be included. BUT overall very cool.

-Chad